Although most children learn to read with relative ease, others have great difficulty. Early reading problems often have a negative impact on later academic and economic advancement, and potentially may reduce quality of life. Research indicates that deficits in phoneme awareness underlie most early reading difficulties. However, little is known of the critical language skills contributing to typical and atypical development of phoneme awareness. Three studies are proposed to investigate sublexical and lexical influences on a phoneme awareness task administered to typically developing children and those with dyslexia. The long-term goal of this line of inquiry is to elucidate language skills underpinning typical and atypical phoneme awareness development and, in turn, improve early identification and intervention for children at risk for reading disabilities. The long-term goal of this research is to determine critical language skills needed to acquire phoneme awareness and in turn use this knowledge to improve early identification and intervention for children at risk for reading impairment. Relevance: The long-term goal of this research is to determine critical language skills needed to acquire phoneme awareness and in turn use this knowledge to improve early identification and intervention for children at risk for reading impairment.